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THE USE OF INFORMAL LANGUAGE IN ACADEMIC WRITING
BY THE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT AT UIN SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) in Teaching English
By
Zaidatus Sholihah
NIM D75214048
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS TRAINING
UIN SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
2018
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ABSTRACT
Sholihah, Z. (2018). The Use of Informal Language in Academic Writing by The
Students of English Teacher Education Department at Uin Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. A thesis. English Teacher Education Department,
Faculty of tarbiyah and teacher training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic
University, Surabaya, Advisor: Dr. M. Salik, M.Ag & Rakhmawati,
M.Pd.
Keyword: Informal Language, Academic Writing, Teachers’ response
Academic writing is one of writing which written for academic purposes. This
kind of writing has standard rule where the language used in academic writing
should be formal. Recently, informal language is frequently used by the writers in
academic writing. This leads the researcher to do further research about informal
language in English Teacher Education Department. This study wants to know if
students of English Teacher Education Department at UIN Sunan Ampel
Surabaya use informal language in their thesis proposal. The researcher focuses
on three research questions; 1) What are the elements of informality used in
academic writing? 2) what are the element of informality which are the most
frequently occurred? 3) how is the teachers’ response on informal language used
in academic writing?. To answer those research questions, the researcher used
qualitative method by analyzing document and interviewing the teachers. The first
data is taken from the students’ thesis proposal in academic writing in three
classes. Meanwhile, the second data is gained from interviewing the teachers who
taught in three classes which become the sample of this research. Those three
research questions have been found. 1) The result of the first research question
shows that nine elements of informality found in students’ theses proposal. They
are unattended anaphoric pronouns, first person pronoun, construction, initial
conjunctions and conjunctive adverb, sentence fragment, listing expression, direct
question, adverb in initial or final position, and second person pronoun. 2) The
result of the second research question shows that the elements which are
frequently occurred are initial conjunctions and conjunctive, first person pronoun
and unattended anaphoric pronoun. 3) The result of the third research question
shows that teachers respond to all elements of informality which are used by the
students except for adverb in initial or final position. However, the eight elements
used by the students are not corrected by all the teachers. The finding also shows
that all the teachers respond to elements of informality selectively. Most of the
response given to each elements of informality is indirect. The teachers most like
to tell the students that error is found but they do not give the correct form to the
students. The teachers wants the students to look for the error by themselves.
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ABSTRAK
Sholihah, Z. (2018). The Use of Informal Language in Academic Writing by The
Students of English Teacher Education Department at Uin Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. Skripsi. Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas
Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, UIN SUnan
AMpel, Surabaya, English Teacher Education Department, Faculty of
tarbiyah and teacher training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University,
Surabaya, Advisor: Dr. M. Salik, M.Ag & Rakhmawati, M.Pd.
Kata kunci : Informal language, Academic Writing, Teachers’ response
Academic writing adalah salah satu tulisan yang ditulis untuk tujuan akademis.
Bentuk tulisan ini mempunyai standar yaitu menggunankan bahasa formal
dipenulisan akademik. Baru-baru ini, bahasa informal sering digunakan oleh para
penulis dalam penulisan akademik. Hal ini membuat peniliti melakukan penelitian
lebih lanjut tentang informal language in Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Penelitian
ini ingin mengetahui apakah ada mahasiswa dari pendidikan bahasa inggris ini
menggunakan bahasa yang tidak formal dalam proposalnya. Peneliti
memfokuskan tiga pertanyaan : 1). Apa saja unsure-unsur informalitas yang
digunakan dalam penulisan akademik? 2). Apa saja elemen informalitas yang
sering digunakan? 3). Bagaimana tanggapan para dosen terhadap bahasa informal
yang digunakan dalam penulisan akademik? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan
penelitian tersebut, peneliti menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan menganalisis
dokumen dan mewawancarai guru. Data pertama diambil dari proposal para
mahasiswa di tiga kelas. Sementara itu, data kedua diperoleh dari wawancara guru
yang mengajar di tiga kelas yang dijadikan sampel. Ketiga pertanyaan penelitian
tersebut telah ditemukan. 1) Hasil dari pertanyaan pertama menunjukkan bahwa
ada unsur informalitas yang ditemukan dalam tesis mahasiswa. Unsur informalitas
tersebut adalah unattended anaphoric pronoun, first person pronoun, contraction,
initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb, fragment sentences, listing expression,
direct question, adverb in initial or final position dan second person pronoun. 2)
Hasil dari pertanyaan penelitian kedua menunjukkan unsur-unsur yang sering
digunakan adalah initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb, first person pronoun
dan unattended anaphoric pronoun. 3) Hasil dari pertanyaan ketiga menunjukkan
bahwa dosen member respon terhadap kecuali satu elemen yaitu adverb in initial
or final position. Namun, 8 elemen tersebut tidak dikoreksi oleh semua dosen.
Temuan ini menunjukkan bahwa semua guru menanggapi unsur-unsur
informalitas secara selektif. Sebagian besar dosen merespon secara tidak langsung
terhadap unsur-unsur informalitas. Para dosen rata-rata memberitahu jika ada
kesalahan pada proposalnya, namun mereka tidak membenarkannya, Para dosen
menginginkan agar para mahasiswa mencari kesalahan sendiri.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE SHEET ..................................................................................................... i
ADVISOR APPROVAL SHEET ......................................................................... ii
APPROVAL SHEET ............................................................................................ iii
MOTTO ................................................................................................................ iv
DEDICATION SHEET ......................................................................................... v
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... ix
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN ............................................................ x
TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................ xi
LIST OF TABLE .................................................................................................xiii
LIST OF APPENDIX ...................................................................................... …xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATION ................................................................................. xv
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study .................................................................................. 1
B. Research Question ........................................................................................... 6
C. Objective of the study ....................................................................................... 7
D. Significant of the study .................................................................................... 7
E. Scope and Limitation ........................................................................................ 8
F. Definition of Key Term .................................................................................... 9
1. Informal language .................................................................................... 9
2. Academic writing ..................................................................................... 10
3. Teachers’ response .................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Framework
1. Definition of Academic Writing ............................................................... 11
2. Informal language ..................................................................................... 14
a. Definition of Informal Language ..................................................... 14
b. Element of informality .................................................................... 15
3. Teachers’ response toward informal Language ........................................ 22
B. Previous Studies ............................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design ............................................................................................... 30
B. Research Setting ............................................................................................... 30
C. Research Instrument ......................................................................................... 31
D. Data and Source Data ....................................................................................... 32
E. Data Collection Technique .............................................................................. 33
F. Data Analyzing Technique ............................................................................... 34
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CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
A. Finding ............................................................................................................. 37
1. The element of informality used in students’ academic writing ............... 38
2. The element of informality which is frequently occurred ......................... 43
3. Teachers’ responses on informal language .............................................. 47
B. Discussion ........................................................................................................ 50
1. The element of informality used in students’ academic writing ............... 50
2. The element of informality which is frequently occurred ......................... 61
3. Teachers’ responses on informal language .............................................. 61
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 65
B. Suggestion ....................................................................................................... 66
1. Suggestion for students ............................................................................. 66
2. Suggestion for teachers ............................................................................. 66
3. Suggestion for further future ..................................................................... 67
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
BIOGRAPHY
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LIST OF TABLE
2.1 The example of unattended anaphoric pronoun .............................................. 17
4.1 Category of element of informality in students’ thesis proposal and the
number of finding in A class .......................................................................... 39
4.2 Category of element of informality in students’ thesis proposal and the
number of finding in B class .......................................................................... 40
4.3 Category of element of informality in students’ thesis proposal and the
number of finding in C class .......................................................................... 42
4.4 The total number of element of informality in students’ thesis ...................... 44
4.5 The teachers’ response toward element of informality .................................. 48
4.6 The forms of first person pronoun in students’ thesis proposal ...................... 51
4.7 The form of unattended anaphoric pronoun in students’ thesis proposal ....... 52
4.8 The form of initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb in students’ theses
proposal .......................................................................................................... 53
4.9 The form of sentence fragment in students’ theses proposal .......................... 55
4.10 The form of listing expression in students’ theses proposal ......................... 56
4.11 The form of second person pronoun in students’ theses proposal ................ 57
4.12 The form of contraction in students’ theses proposal ................................... 58
4.13 The form of adverb in initial or final position in students’ theses
proposal....................................................................................................... 59
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LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 : Matrix of element of informality
APPENDIX 2 : Interview guideline
APPENDIX 3 : The result of informal language used in A Class of
Students’ thesis proposal
APPENDIX 4 : The result of informal language used in B Class of
Students’ thesis proposal
APPENDIX 5 : The result of informal language used in C Class of
Students’ thesis proposal
APPENDIX 6 : Validasi Instrumen
APPENDIX 7 : Kartu Konsultasi
APPENDIX 8 : Surat Tugas
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LIST OF ABBREVIATION
UIN : Universitas Islam Negeri
ETED : English Teacher Education Department
MICASE : Michigan Corpus of Spoken Academic English
IMF : International Monetary Fund
Can’t : Cannot
Isn’t : Is not
It’s : It is
Couldn’t : Could not
Don’t : Do not
Won’t : Will not
Haven’t : Have not
Can’t : Cannot
I’ll : I will
Didn’t : Did not
It’s : It is
Doesn’t : We’re
That’s : That is
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the introduction of the study that explains the
reason conducting this research, and the research question that would bring this
research to some cases. Objective of the study that presents the aim of this
research and significant of the study are also provided in this chapter.
Furthermore, this chapter presents the scope and limitation and the definition of
key terms that can explain each variable that is used in this research.
A. Background of the Study
Writing is very important in today’s society. There are many
considerations why this is important. First, writing is way to communicate with
other people besides speaking. People will judge person from their writing
because it is the tool of communication. The purpose of communication is to
deliver the message, information, ideas and opinion to people. Meanwhile, if the
writer delivers the message or information in the wrong way, the reader will get
the misunderstanding. The second consideration, writing is the primary basic
upon which work, learning, and intellectual will be judged in college, workplace
and community.1 In university, college students are often required to make writing
as the task. A scholar should even make thesis as the requirement of bachelor
degree. A scholarship hunter also should make essay as the requirement in order
to enrolling the scholarship. Furthermore, worker should make application letter
1 Alice Oshima, Ann Hogue, “Introduction to academic writing” (Pearson Education, 2007), 3
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before applying a job. These important things of writing are the reasons why
writing skill should be developed.
Writing can be divided into many kinds of categories. One of the main
divides is formal writing and informal writing.2 The difference between them is,
informal writing is similar to spoken language. It does not have systematic rules
and structure. Informal writing tends to be personal writing. The example of the
informal writing is a letter which will be sent to friends or family. Meanwhile,
formal writing has systematic rule and structures. It also needs technique and
particular discipline to write. The example of formal writing is academic writing.
Academic writing can be defined as kind of writing which is written for
academic purposes. It has to follow the rules in accordance to the agreement.3
Academic writing is usually used in school or college. There are many kinds of
academic writing which are usually made by the college students like essay,
proposal and thesis. Those writings should have the characteristics as the rule of
academic writing.
To make a good academic writing, the students have to follow its
characteristics. One of the characteristics is using formal language. The aim of
using formal language is to make the reader understand easily and avoid the
misunderstanding. According to Heylighen and Dewaele, the usage of formal
language is to avoid the ambiguity, misinterpretation and confusion of
2 Dorothy, E. Zemachand Lisa A. Rumisek, “Academic writing from paragraph to
essay”,(Macmillan, 2005), 4. 3 Paul oliver, “Writing your thesis” (Great Britain: Sage, 2004), 14
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expression.4 In addition, Brown & Levinson mention that formal language is
characterized by detachment, accuracy, rigidity and heaviness. This means that
formal writing should use the language style which is appropriate and clear to
make the reader understand easily.
In academic writing, informal language should be avoided. It is because of
some reasons. First, informal language is contrast to the formal language where it
puts a daily spoken language in academic writing. For the example is; the students
writes “won’t” instead of “will not”. In spoken, it is casually allowed to be used
but forbidden in academic writing. Second, informal language causes the
ambiguity which make the reader confused. For example, the students often use
anaphoric pronoun (this, that) which refers to antecedents of varying length. This
informal language will make the reader confused where the “this/that” refers to.
These two reasons are supported by the definition of informal language where
informal language is more flexible, direct, implicit, and involved, but less
informative.5
Informal language in academic writing can be identified by a set of
features. It is usually called by element of informality. This element indicates the
existence of informal language in students’ writing which have a high chance to
be occurred. Some experts have different opinion about decisive elements. It is
found that three experts mention different elements in their book. However, there
are two same elements found in their books. They are listing expression and
construction.
4Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, Is academic writing becoming more informal?,entre for Applied
English Studies, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. 2017 5 Ibid 13
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Nowadays, academic writing is becoming more informal. Adel, Fairclough
and Foster assumed that writing in many domains has become informal in the past
years. Ken Hyland, in his research stated that from 1965-2015, the domain from
linguistic, sociology, electrical engineering and biology has slowly increased in
some elements of informality. This bring consideration for the researcher to
continue on analyzing the informal language used in academic writing in these
recent years. Moreover, Leedham also found greater informality in
undergraduate essays.6 This finding also leads to the importance of investigating
the level of informal language used by college students particularly at English
teacher education department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.
There are some reasons why this study is conducted in English teacher
education department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. First, this university
required the students to write a thesis as the demand of getting bachelor degree.
Each faculty of this university has rule in writing a thesis based on the major.
Second, this university has English Teacher Education Department (ETED) where
the students have to write the thesis in English considering their major they learn.
Third, the students are educated to be an English teacher where they have to
master all the aspects of English especially writing. Fourth, academic writing
becomes part of subject in English Teacher Education Department to prepare the
students in writing academically,. The students are required to join the class of
writing in sequent. The subjects which have to be taken are paragraph writing,
essay writing, argumentative writing, and academic writing. The researcher will
6 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, Is academic writing becoming…4
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take academic writing class to be researched as it is the last step before writing the
thesis.
Before conducting this study, the researcher do preliminary research to
both the students and the teacher in academic writing class. There are two results
of preliminary research. The first one is that the students of English Teacher
Education Department revealed that they are not taught about the language which
should be used in academic writing. This problem have made the researcher
assumes that there will be informal language in students’ writing. The second one
is the teachers have different perspective in language used by the students. Several
teachers stated that some elements of informality should be corrected and some
other teachers stated that it should not be corrected.
There are many studies previously conducted by the researcher. The first
one was conducted by Ken Hyland and Feng Kevin Jiang at University of East
Anglia Hongkong in 2017. The title is “Is Academic Writing becoming more
Informal?”. This study investigated several journals in different corpus to find if
today’s writing becoming more informal. The second one is conducted by Mogh.
Sabrowi in State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya. The title is
“Students’ reflection on challenges in academic writing at state islamic university
of sunan ampel Surabaya”. The third one is conducted by Hamzah at Universitas
Negeri Padangena in academic year 2011. The title is “An Analysis Of The
Written Grammatical Errors Produced By Freshment Students In English Writing.
This study investigated the grammatical error in writing which is produced by the
freshmen students. The forth one is conducted by Diah Suciati at IAIN Sunan
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Ampel Surabaya in academic year 2012. The title is “An analysis of organization
in the English composition which is produced by writing 1 students of the English
education department faculty of tarbiyah at IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya thesis”.
This study investigated the organization in English composition which is
produced by the students in writing.
The difference with the previous study is that this research focuses on
identifying the informal language used by the students in academic writing,
meanwhile the previous study focuses on another characteristics of academic
writing, such as grammatical error or the organization of idea. Furthermore, the
first previous study focuses on the development of the use of informal language in
some journals from 1965 to 2015.
In short, this research would identify the use of informal language in
academic writing by the students of English Teacher Education Department of
Uinsa. The researcher also wants to know the teachers’ response toward informal
language used by the students. Therefore, the researcher conducted this research is
to make the students more aware of language style used in academic writing. The
teachers are also expect to aware of the need to respond on the students’ academic
writing in language aspect.
B. Research Question
Based on the background above, this study is guided the following research
question:
1. What are the elements of informality used in academic writing by the
students?
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2. What is the element of informality which is the most frequently occurred
in academic writing by the students?
3. How is the teachers’ response on informal language used in academic
writing by the students?
C. Objectives of the Study
According to the research question above, it can be figure out the purpose of the
study as follow:
1. to describe the element of informality used by the students,
2. to find out the elements of informality which is the most frequently
occurred in academic writing by the students,
3. to describe the teacher’s response on informal language used by the
students.
D. Significance of the Study
Below are the advantages of conducting this study.
a. For the student teacher: This study will grow the students’ awareness of
informal language used in academic writing. They will know that informal
language should be avoided in term of writing academically.
b. For the English teachers: the teacher aware of students’ level of using
informal language in academic writing. They also will aware of the need to
correct the students’ writing in language aspect.
c. For the reader: they will get the information that the use of informal
language in academic writing should be avoided because it causes the
ambiguity and fuzziness for the reader.
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d. For further researcher: this study is expected to be useful for the further
researcher who is interested in the same topic to do deep analysis in
informal language used by the students. There are many elements from
different theories that can be used to analyze further. This research is also
can be inspiration for the further researcher to analyze in the same area.
There are many characteristics of academic writing which should be
analyzed too.
E. Scope and Limitation
The researcher does not analyze the whole students’ writing of academic
writing. In English, there are many kinds of academic writing. They are journal,
thesis research and essay. This study analyzes the thesis proposal where it is part
of thesis research. Thesis proposal has three chapters in it. It is made by the
students in academic writing class on final test.
This study does not analyze the whole characteristics of academic writing.
Academic writing has several characteristics which are; using correct grammar
and punctuation, using cautious language, avoiding subjective and emotive
language , using linking word and phrases, using correct referencing, clearing and
concising language, avoiding informal language and using correct spelling. This
study investigates only on informal language used by the students.
The researcher does not analyze the whole elements of informality in
students’ academic writing. The study only limits the analysis using the element
of informality adapted from John M Swales and Christine B Feak to analyze the
students’ writing. These include, first person pronouns, unattended anaphoric
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pronouns, split infinitives, initial conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs, sentence
final preposition, listing expressions, second person pronouns/determiners to refer
to the reader (you and your), contractions, direct questions and exclamations.
Those elements helped the researcher to analyze the students’ writing.
The study also investigates the teachers’ response toward informal
language used by the students. In teaching learning process of writing class, the
response can be given in form of peer correction, oral correction and written
correction. This research only limit the response in written correction where the
teachers respond it in the paper. The written correction can be given selectively,
comprehensively, directly or indirectly.
F. Definition of Key Term
In order to have the same idea and concept in this study, the researcher tried to
explain some related terms as follows:
1. Informal Language
The meaning of informal language in this research is language
style made by the students in their academic writing which characterized by
expressions that are often taken from spoken English. According to Melin
and Lange informal language used is mainly connected to spoken language.7
The type of this language style is appropriate for informal journal writing,
reflections, personal letters and creative works. It is also usually acceptable
to write from the first-person perspective (using “I”) in this type of writing.
7 David Claesson, “academic awareness in students’ paper: an investigation of information
packaging and subjective projective in students papers at university level.” 2013.
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The use of the informal language in academic writing causes the ambiguity
and confusion.
2. Academic Writing
The meaning of academic writing here is a writing made by the
students which should use formal language. In this case, the academic
writing is thesis proposal made by the students of English teacher education
department in the fifth semester. Academic Writing is also a subject in
English Teacher Education Department Students of English Teacher
Education Department is requirement to join Academic Writing class in
order to be able to write academically. There are many kinds of academic
writing in college such as essay, journal, abstract and thesis. The researcher
analyzed the students’ writing that is thesis proposal in final test of
academic writing.
3. Teachers’ response
There are many definitions of teachers’ response in English language
teaching. In this research, teachers’ response can be defined as error
correction or error feedback which is given by the teachers to the students’
writing. The response which given here is written correction. According to
Ferris, there are six kinds of written correction which can be given to
students. They are; selective, comprehensive, direct and indirect.8 Those
corrections can be used to respond the students’ error on informal language.
8 Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers’ perception of error:…30
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter discusses about all of related review of the study. There are
four main points which are discussed here. They are; the definition of academic
writing, the definition of informal language, elements of informality and teachers‟
response in informal language. In addition, some previous study is revealed in this
chapter.
A. Theoretical Framework
1. Definition of Academic writing
Academic is the word relating to education, especially in college or
university. Graduate students face a variety of writing tasks throughout the
chosen degree programs. These tasks will vary from one degree program to
another. However, they are similar in two aspects. First, the tasks become
progressively more complex and demanding the farther it is in the program.
Second, in general they need to be written “academically”. Although certain
assigned writing in some fields may require personal reflection and thus may
be somewhat more informal.1
Academic writing has some considerations which should be
concerned by the writer.2
1) Audience
Considering the audience is part of writing. The understanding of the
audience will affect the content of writing. In university, the audience
1 Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing for Graduate Students:essential skills and
tasks ( 2012), 57 2 Ibid, 60
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will be an instructor who is presumably quite knowledgeable about the
assigned writing topic. The possible audience in university will include
advisors, thesis committees, and those will review the research at
conference or publish paper.
2) Purpose
Audience, purpose, and strategy is typically interconnected. The
writer is propose for instruction if the audience knows less than the
writers. The second situation commonly happens for the graduate
students writer.
3) Organization
Academic writing is expected to follow the organization to make the
reader understand the content even there are some language errors. The
reader cannot get the information if the writer does not write in the
appropriate format structured.
4) Style
The style of academic writing is different from daily
communication. Academic writer should make sure that the writing is
written in appropriate style. The style of academic writing is formal.3 The
communication between reader and writer should be conveyed clearly.
The style of academic writing is different from other kind of writing.
Deciding what is academic or not is further complicated by the fact that
academic style differs from one area of study to another. For instance,
3 Tatyana Yakhontova, “English Academic Writing for Students and Researchers”, Ivan Franko
National University of Lviv , 2003.25
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contractions (e.g. don’t) may be used in Philosophy but are not widely
used in many other fields.
Based on the statements above, it is can be concluded that
academic style is not used in all academic settings. Research based on the
Michigan Corpus of Spoken Academic English (MICASE) shows that
academic and research speech in linguistic terms, is more casual
conversation than written academic English.
There are many perspectives about academic style. Most of them
come from individual perspective rather than research. This kind of issue
is conflicting and vague. It should come as no surprise that despite a
sizeable amount of research, academic writing is in fact poorly
understood by teachers and students alike.4
5) Flow
Another consideration for successful communication is flow. Flow
is derived to move from one statement to in a text to a text. Next
sentence discuss the same thing with the previous one. Then next
paragraph should be connected to the previous paragraph. Giving a clear
connection of ideas is important to help the reader follow the text.
6) Presentation
For non native speaker, small error in language in papers written
are accepted by most instructor, for example mistaken in article or
4Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing……45
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preposition usage. However, error which are not acceptable are
considered as lack of writing quality.
2. Informal Language
a. Definition of informal language
Informal Language is characterized by expressions that are often
taken from spoken English.5 This type of language is appropriate for
informal journal writing, reflections, personal letters and creative works.
A fully formal research writing style was standard in most
disciplines until fairly recently. This style was associated with
objectivity, the experimental method, and the disappearance of the
researcher from the text. For example, in 1934 Albert Einstein wrote that
there was no place for "I" in scientific writing. Although this style
continues to predominate in certain fields, in others the need for strict
formality has been relaxed. This formal academic style has a number of
typical features: the avoidance of the first and second person pronouns
"I" and "you," of contractions such as "isn't," and of colloquial
expression such as "pretty nice."
Heylighen and Dewaele stated that: “A formal style is
characterized by detachment, accuracy, rigidity and heaviness. An
informal style is more flexible, direct, implicit, and involved, but less
informative”.6 In academic writing, formality helps to avoid ambiguity
5Dornan, Edward A. and Charles W. Dawe. The Brief English Handbook. (New York:
HarperCollins College Publishers, 1994) 65 6Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing becoming more informal?”, entre for
Applied English Studies, (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2017). 70
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and misinterpretation by minimizing the context-dependence and
fuzziness of expressions.
b. The element of informality
Informality is generally contrasted to formality. There are many
perspectives about the element of informality, but this research uses the
theory adapted from John M Swales and Christine B Feak .7.
1) First person pronoun
First person pronoun is pronouns which refer to the author
or personal experience. The pronouns included into this are I, my,
me, mine, we, our, us and ours. In avoiding the use of first person
pronoun in academic writing, passive voice can be used to replace
first person pronoun. Seone in her research, suggests that to reduce
the use of the passive, an increase for first person pronoun is
needed.8 Below is the example of first person pronoun and the
formal form in academic writing;
“In this paper I argue that small incentives can lead to a
greater participation in survey” (Informal language)
“This paper argues that small incentives can lead to a
greater participation in survey” (Formal language)
This element is often considered as a marker of informality.
The aim of avoiding the first person pronoun is to convey
impersonal stance, avoid personal experience and independent
argument. According to Hyland, the logic behind avoiding the
7 Christoper N Candlin and Ken Hyland, “Applied linguistics and language study”, Longman;
London and New York 2002. 25 8 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing….45
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authorial I was that by eliminating self reference.9 First person
pronoun is one of element which is frequently used by the authors.
Since 1965 to 2015, first person pronoun rises over three domains
(sociology, electrical, biology). This element is one of element
which rises frequently used by the author among the other
elements.10
2) Unattended anaphoric pronouns
Unattended anaphoric pronoun is initial pronoun in which
refers to previous long sentence. The form of this element includes
this, these, that, those and it. Swales stated that this unattended
anaphoric pronoun is supposed to be unfinished story from
previous sentence in which signed by these pronouns.11
To avoid
the unattended anaphoric pronoun, the pronouns should be
followed by an appropriate noun. Geisle and Jordan stated that the
demonstrative is said to be attended, supported or has associated
nominal or followed by a summary word.12
John Swales in his book, giving the example of unattended
anaphoric pronoun and the formal form; 13
9 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing….45
10 Ibid 46
11 John M. Swales, “ Attended and Unattended “this” in academic writing: A long and unfinished
story”, Universiti teknologi Malaysia; university of Michigan 2005. 01 12
Ibid 2 13
Ibid 1
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Table 2.1
The example of unattended Anaphoric Pronoun
Informal form Formal form
a. The temperature will fall
below freezing tonight.
b. It will be as low as –5
degrees Celsius in some
areas.
c. This may cause frost
damage to plants.
d. The temperature will fall
below freezing tonight.
a. It will be as low as –5
degrees Celsius in some
areas.
b. This condition cause frost
damage to plants.
The basic principle that seems to be operating in the
example above is that it (point a) should be chosen if it refers to an
entity typically a noun phrase, such as “the temperature”. In
contrast, this (poin b) is selected when the writer wishes to refer to
a larger entity, typically an entire proposition (usually a sentence,
but sometimes a clause) that has already been stated.14
In the
example above, this refers to the sentence in point b.
The purpose of avoiding this element is to help the reader
understand the content easily. Swales and Feak argue that
following this with an appropriate noun reduces possible
comprehension difficulties by readers and helps make the writer
appear more professional and authoritative.15
Hyland in his
research, stated that beside first person pronoun, unattended
14
John M. Swales, “ Attended and Unattended “this” in academic writing…1 15
Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing….46
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anaphoric pronoun is also frequently occurred in journals from
different domain in 1965 till 2005.16
3) Split infinitives
Split infinitive is an infinitive that has an adverb between to
and the verb stem or to infinitive which is separated by an adverb.
this split infinitive should be avoided because it makes an
ambiguity.17
The example of split infinitive is;
“The president proceeded to sharply admonish the
reporters.” (Informal language)
“The president proceeded sharply to admonish the
reporters” (Formal language).
4) Initial conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs
Initial conjunction is conjunction such as and, but, so, or,
since, because and before which are located in the beginning of the
sentence. Conjunctions have one job that is to connect the words,
phrases or clauses. It also can clarify what the writer is saying.
Their presence provides smooth transitions from one
idea to another. Those conjunctions therefore are not allowed to be
used in the beginning of the sentence. The example of this element
is “And the students will get the result”. The word And could not
be the beginning of the sentence.
Some adverbs are used as transitions between sentences.
These are called conjunctive adverbs, but they are not conjunctions
16
Ibid 17
Cristina ONU, “Adverb vr the splitting of the infinitive” universitateadin Pitesti, 2005.
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and cannot be used to join two sentences. These
words and phrases are often useful to show the logical transitions
between paragraphs. Conjunctive adverb is included anyway,
beside, furthermore, however, indeed, instead, likewise,
meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, next, now, otherwise, still,
then, therefore, and thus which are located in the beginning of the
sentence. Robbin said that those conjunctive adverb and the
sentence can be separated by semicolon (;) and comma (,) or by
comma slice only.18
He also gives the example of this element. It
can be seen below.
“You are a fool; moreover, you dress badly.”
“You are a fool, moreover, you dress badly.”
“We ate our meal; then we had dessert.”
“We ate our meal, and then we had dessert”
Robbin also stated that conjunctive adverb can be placed
anywhere including in the beginning of the sentence. There are
many forms of conjunction and conjunctive adverb, but according
to Hyland in his research, the conjunction and conjunctive adverb
occurred in most of journal are and, but, so, or, however, also, thus,
yet, indeed and again.
5) Sentence fragment
A sentence fragment is a piece of information that is
punctuated as a sentence but that lacks some of the characteristics
18
Robbin L. Simmons, “the conjunctive adverb”, (thechompchomp.com, accessed on July 05,
2018)
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of a complete sentence. Sentence fragment is usually missed out
one of element in a sentence such as subject, predicate or object.
Meanwhile, academic writing should present a complete
information. Below is the example of sentence fragment;
“but not for want for trying”.
6) Listing expressions
Listing expression is an expression like and so on, etc, and
so forth. This expression demands the reader to guess the further
information by itself. This means that this expression is not clear.
According to John Swales, listing expressions is imprecise and
require readers to fill in the missing information.19
The example of
this element is “These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD
players, etc.”
7) Second person pronouns
Second person pronoun is determiners which refer to the
reader. The forms of second person pronoun is you, your and
yours. This element is commonly used in daily conversation than
in academic writing. This element is not allowed to be in academic
writing because it caused of creating the sense of intimacy in
academic writing. Key Hyland stated that;
“You carries a more encompassing meaning than
rhetorically focusing on an individual reader,
seeking instead to engage with an audience by
19
Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing in graduate…23
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recruiting its members into a world of shared
experiences”.20
To avoid the use of second person pronoun, John Swales
suggest to use passive voice in change.21
Below is the example of
second person pronoun in academic writing;
“you can see the result in table 1” (Informal form)
“The result can be seen in table 1” (Formal form)
8) Contractions
Contraction is a way to mash together two words in order to
make them shorter. It is also way to make writing seems more
conversational and make the reader feel included in the writing.
The example of contraction is don’t, can’t, and won’t. It is
commonly used in daily conversation, so that the use of contraction
in academic writing makes sound of informal.
9) Direct questions
Direct question is not usually used in academic writing.
Direct question can be a very effective means to draw the reader‟s
attention to a point, but it may be particularly useful when laying
out an argument or research questions to be answered. However,
direct question in the middle of paragraph is not commonly
happened. Below is the example of direct question.
“What can be done to lower costs?”.
20
Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic ……48 21
Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing in graduate…23
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10) Adverb in initial or final position
Adverb in initial or final position is an adverb located on the first
sentence and in the end of the sentence. According to John Swales,
adverb is supposed to be in the middle of sentence. For the
example;
“This model was developed by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) originally and was adapted by
Lalonde and Muir (2007) later.” (Informal form)
“This model was originally developed by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and was later
adapted by Lalonde” (Formal form).
3. Teachers‟ responses on informal language
To reduce the use of informal language, the students need response
from the teacher to their product. According to Ferris, not all non native
teachers have same perspective to the element of informality. 22
Some
teacher in ETED Uinsa stated that not all the elements of informality is
being corrected.
Response is giving correction or feedback to students‟ error.
Response in writing can be given by the reader, audience, the teacher or
students‟ peer. 23
There are two kind of response that are written response
and oral response. Written response is usually given by the teacher in
students‟ paper. Meanwhile oral response is usually given in face to face.
The purpose of responding is to revise and improve the students‟
writing. The teacher usually responds to the students‟ error in different
22
Dana Feris, “response to students writing; implication for second language students”, London,
2003.42 23
Anthony Seow, “How to respond to student writing”. Institute of Education Singapore.
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aspects like the content, punctuation, language issues or error. In this case,
not all the teacher‟ in writing responds to those all aspect. Sometimes they
responds only to the content and the grammatical error but do not respond
to the language style used by the students. As teacher of writing, they
should give feedback that is not only focused on students‟ content, ideas,
and global organization but also in language issues or error.24
Language
issues or error are includes grammatical error and language style.
In this case, the students will be confused if the teacher respond to
all categories in the same time, but this does not mean the teacher should
ignore the language issues by the students. There are specific issues and
technique for responding to language concerns that need attention.25
Some
questions regarding this issue are given to the teacher in order to get the
various answer of teacher‟s respond in informal language. Dana Feris in
his book, convey four following questions reflected the concerns of
researcher and teachers regarding the error feedback of formal language
error treatment.26
1. What is an error? Should we mark for “errors” or “style”?
2. Should error feedback be “selective” or “comprehensive”?
3. Should error feedback be direct or indirect?
4. Does error feedback help students at all?
(“Error feedback” 84)
The first question is about definition of error and an overview of
what the “treatment of error”. There are many opinions about the language
24
Dana Ferris, “Preparing teachers to respond to students‟ writing”. California State University.
Vol 165-193, 2007. 25
Ibid, 176 26
Dana R. Ferris, John S. Hedgcock, “ Teaching ESL Composition: Purpose, process, and
practice”. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. New Jersey, London 2005.
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used by the students in academic writing. Several teachers stated that
informal language is style and it does not need to be corrected. There are
many theories also stated that informal language is an error. This first
question is related to second question.
The second question is that comprehensive feedback refers to a
teacher who correct all the errors in a learner‟s written work. In this case,
the teachers are asked if they correct all element of informality which
occurred in students‟ thesis proposal. Selective feedback refers to a teacher
who select specific error to be corrected and ignores other error. 27
It is
important to know the teachers‟ perspective on what error they would
correct. Ferris cautioned second language writing teachers against
correcting too much, especially when the structures or language being
corrected is not erroneous.28
What teachers need to bear in mind,
according to Ferris is to be cautious of stylistic differences and erroneous
linguistic constructions. If student writing is correct but may not be written
the way the teacher would write, correction may not be necessary, as there
may be differences in composing styles.
There may be a fine line between what needs correction and what
does not, but it is relatively easy for a teacher to determine if student
language is accurate and clear. If the language is correct and the meaning
is clear, there is no need for correction. Most advanced learners of a
27
Simon Andersson, “Comprehensive or selective feedback that is the question”.
Amneslararprogramet, 2011. 04 28
Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers‟ perception of error: the effect of first language and
experience”. University of London. Vol 509-519, 2006. 45
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language can easily produce correct language, but the meaning may not be
clear to the teacher as a reader. In such a case, it is necessary for students
to improve the structures to communicate their meaning more effectively.
Ferris suggests that teachers might usefully choose to correct errors which
are specific to the genre being produced, those which most disturb readers,
those which most interfere with text comprehensibility or those which are
made most consistently by the student.29
The third question is about direct feedback and indirect feedback.
Direct feedback is given to the student explicitly. The teacher directly give
comment and pointed out the the error. According to Bitchener, direct
feedback is usually given by the teacher upon noticing a grammatical
mistake by providing the correct answer or the expected response above or
near the linguistic or grammatical error.30
In addition, Lee stated that direct
feedback may be appropriate in a situation when errors are „untreatable‟
that are not susceptible to self-correction such as sentence structure and
word choice. The teacher points out directly the error and give the
comment.31
It can be suggested correction from the teacher to make it
clear.
In indirect feedback, teacher provides students writing with an
indication that an error has been made, but requires the students to self-
correct. Indirect feedback is given to students by the teacher implicitly.
29
Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers‟ perception of error….17 30
Fatemeh Nematzadeh and Hossein Siahpoosh, “the effect of teacher direct and indirect feedback
on irain intermediate EFL learners‟ written performance” (Islamic Azad University, 2017). 02 31
Ibid 2
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The teacher does not comment directly to the students error. According to
Feris and Robert, they stated that indirect feedback is a strategy of
providing feedback usually used by teachers to help students correct their
errors by indicating an error without providing the correct form.32
Indirect
feedback takes place when teacher aware of existing the error in students‟
writing but do not provide the correct form. In doing so, the teacher only
provide general clue regarding the location like giving underline, a circle,
a code, a mark, highlight. The teachers ask the students to correct by
themselves. In this case, most experts agree that indirect feedback clearly
has the most potential for helping the students.33
B. Previous Study
The researcher found some studies related to informal language in academic
writing:
The study was conducted by Ken Hyland and Feng Kevin Jiang at
university of east Angalia Hongkong in year 2017. The title is “Is Academic
Writing becoming more Informal?”by.34
This study has three research questions,
the first one is “is academic writing becoming informal?”. The second is “if it is
becoming informal, in what ways?”. The last is “in what discipline the academic
writing become informal?”.The study research several journals with different
discipline to be the object. The result shows that academic writing is becoming
informal in over years from 1965 – 2015 , but the most dominant is in linguistics
32
Fatemeh Nematzadeh and Hossein Siahpoosh, “the effect of teacher direct and indirect…3 33
Dana R. Ferris, John S. Hedgcock, “ Teaching ESL…... 269 34
Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing becoming more informal?”entre for
Applied English Studies, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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discipline. The most frequent informal language used in all disciplines are first
person pronoun, unattended reference and sentence beginning with conjunction.
This study investigated the increase of journal in term of informal language,
meanwhile this paper focuses on the element of informality used by the students
of English Department and the teacher‟s respond on it. This paper also has been
conducted at UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya in 2018.
The study is conducted by Moch. Sabrowi in year 2015 at UIN sunan
Ampel Surabaya. the title is “Students’ reflection on challenges in academic
writing at state islamic university of sunan ampel Surabaya”.35
The researcher
focused on finding out the difficulties in academic writing faced by the sixth
semester students of 2014/2015 academic year as their challenges and students‟
reflection on the challenge at English teacher education department of state
Islamic university of Sunan Ampel Surabaya. The result of this study shows that
the difficulties faced by the students is writing the introduction, searching for
appropriate literature using database and library resource and the last is difficulties
in the language problem. The finding of this study informs the reader that there
are still difficulties in language faced by college students of ETED UIN Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. This current study then focuses on analyzing the language style
used by the students in the same area.
The study was conducted by Hamzah in year 2012 at Fakultas Bahasa and
Seni Universitas Negeri Padang. The title is “An Analysis Of The Written
Grammatical Errors Produced By Freshment Students In English Writing” in year
35
Moch.Sabrowi, “students’ reflection on challenges in in academic writing at state Islamic
university of Sunan Ampel Surabaya” (UIN Sunan Ampel:2015). 45
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2012. The question of this study is about the common errors made by Indonesian
speaking learners on written production of English, the classification of those
errors and the distribution of those errors in their categories. The findings of the
study reveal that the errors can be grouped into fifteen categories ranging from
severe errors to mild errors. The categories for severe errors are word choice, verb
group, article, preposition, plurality and spelling. The finding above had
concluded that this paper is different from the previous research. Both have the
similarities in area of academic writing error.
The study was conducted by Diah Suciati in year 2012 at IAIN Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. the title is “An analysis of organization in the English
composition which is produced by writing 1 students of the English education
department faculty of tarbiyah at IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya thesis”. The
question of this study is about the problem faced by writing 1 students of English
Education department and the cause of the organization‟s problem. From those
research question, the result shows that the problem faced by writing 1 students
are classified into five. They are topic sentence problems, supporting sentence
problems, concluding sentence problems, unity problems, and coherence
problems. Whereas, the causes of those organization problem also classified into
five. They are the cause of the topic sentence problem is the matching of topic
sentence with the genre of paragraph, the cause of supporting sentence problem is
the difficulty in finding facts, the cause of concluding sentence problem is the
worry that their concluding sentence does not represent the content of paragraph,
the cause of unity problem is the difficulty in keeping the supporting sentence in
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order that it does not deviate from the topic, the cause of coherence problem is the
lack understanding in using transition signal. Those result indicated that the
differences between this study and this paper is focus that given in the writing. If
this research discussed about the organization, so this paper discussed about the
language used by the students.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter discusses about; (a) research design (b) research setting (c) data and
the source of data (d) data collection technique (e) research instrument (f) data
analyzing technique.
A. Research Design
In this step, the researcher is required to choose what kind of method is
appropriate to this study. The researcher uses descriptive qualitative since it
describes the informal language used in student’ academic writing and the
response from the teacher toward the informal language used by the students. This
is relevant to William Trochim’s statement that “Descriptive studies are design
primarily to describe what is going on or what exist.”1 Due to this research aimed
to describe the form of informal language which occurs in students’ thesis
proposal and teachers’ response on informal language used.
B. Research Setting
This research is conducted in UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya exactly at
English Teacher Education Department of Tarbiyah and Keguruan Faculty in
academic writing class on academic year 2017-2018. There are 4 classes of
academic writing in fifth semester. They are A, B, C, D with different teachers.
Each class has around 25 students. There are 3 classes of academic writing which
is used as the sample. Each class was taken 5 students’ writing. The total sample
is 15 students’ documents. The researcher only took the data from classes that the
1 William M.K. Trochim, “The research methods Knowledge Base”, 2
nd Edition (Ithaca,
N.Y.:Cornell Custom Publishing, 1999), 5
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teacher willingly to be interviewed to get the subsidiary data. There are four
reasons why the researcher chooses the students of English Department as the
object in academic year 2015/2016. The first is because the students are from
English Teacher Education Department which they have to write the academic
writing called Thesis in English as the requirement to get bachelor degree. The
second is that students of academic writing class in year 2015/2016 is latest
conducted. Based upon previous study, informal language is increasingly occurred
in academic writing year by year. It is better to know the latest development from
the students. The third reason is that the students teacher have to be able to aware
of the language style used in academic writing in order to teach their students in
the future. The forth reason is the student have to join the academic writing class
in the fifth semester in order to improve the writing skill in academic context. The
aim of this course is to prepare the students to make thesis correctly and
appropriately with the agreement. In addition, this research is conducted in
C. Research Instrument
The main data which is obtained from the research in the matrix of
Data are required to undertake the findings of this study. Those data can be
obtained by using these following instruments:
1. The first instrument is informal language matrix containing the element of
informality. (See appendix 1)
2. The other instrument is interview guideline. This guideline helps the
researcher to find the answer of the second research question in which is
about the teachers’ response in element of informality. (See appendix 2)
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Before the instruments used to get the data, the researcher has checked the
validity of the instruments to one of the teacher in academic writing. However, the
researcher chooses the teacher that is different from the teacher who has been
interviewed.
D. Data and source data
The main data which is obtained from this research is students’ theses
proposal in academic writing. This data is obtained from the students’ thesis
proposal of English Teacher Education Department in Uin Sunan Ampel
Surabaya. The subsidiary data is obtained from interview the teachers of
Academic writing classes.
This research used snow ball sampling as the sample technique. Snow ball
sampling is a sample that posses certain characteristics are selected and asked to
refer others with similar characteristics.2 In this research, the sample is taken
based on the class where the students join in academic writing class. The teacher
gained the data by analyzing the students’ theses proposal from A class which
probably contained elements of informality. The analysis then continued to B
class which probably containing another kind of elements of informality. It is then
continued to C class which probably contained different element of informality. In
addition, the sample size in snow ball sampling cannot be determined before the
research is conducted.3 The reason is that the sampling is continued during the
study until having achieved informational redundancy or saturation. The point at
which no new information or themes are emerging from the data. In this research,
2 William M.K. Trochim, “The research methods…141
3 Ibid 141
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the researcher took the data from three classes randomly. As a result, the
researcher found 15 students’ theses proposal in three classes that can be used as
the data of this research. In detail, each classes is taken five students’ theses
proposal.
This research then continued to gain the data from interviewing the teacher
in academic writing class. The researcher decided to interview the teacher who
taught in A, B, C classes which become the sample of this research. It is relevant
to what Berg said that “a bond or link exists between the initial sample and others
in the same target population, allowing a series of referral to be made within a
circle of acquaintance”.4
E. Data Collection Technique
1. Content analysis
To get the data from the first research question, the researcher
analyze the content of students’ theses proposal. Content analysis is a
research method for studying documents and communication artifact,
which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video.5 In this
research, the researcher analyze the informal language used in students’
thesis proposal through reading. With reading, the researcher could find
the informal language used in students’ thesis proposal. To analyze the
content of students’ thesis proposal, the researcher collected thesis
proposal of the students in academic writing class. The researcher then
categorized the documents based on the classes which have been chosen as
4 Rowland Atkinson and John Flint, “Assesing hidden and hard to reach population: snowball
research strategies”, (university of Surrey.2001) 01 5 Yang Zhang and Barbara M. Wildemuth, “qualitative analysis content”. 1966
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the sample. The classes are A, B and C. After categorizing the document,
the researcher then analyzed the data.
2. Interview
This study used the interview as the instrument to get the data of
the third research question. Interviews are an appropriate method when there
is a need to collect in-depth information on people’s opinions, thoughts,
experiences, and feelings.6 In this study, the researcher interviewed the
teachers from A, B and C class where the students’ theses proposal are used
to be the sample to answer the first research question. This interview
conducted in form of structured-interview. In structured interview, the
questions are asked in a set or standardized order and the interviewer will
not deviate from the interview schedule or probe beyond the answers
received.7 Some interviewers use an interview guideline that serves as a
checklist to ensure that all respondents provide information on the same
topics. In this study, the researcher interviewed the teachers using interview
guideline. The interview guideline contains four questions with the checklist
about teachers’ response on elements of informality. The interview
guideline can be seen in appendix 2.
F. Data Analysis Technique
The first data is gained from analyzing students’ theses proposal. After the
documents of students’ theses proposal are collected, the analysis of the theses is
conducted. The steps of conducting the analysis are explained below.
6 Easwaramoorthy & Fataneh Zarinpoush, “Interviewing for research”h; Canada volunteerism
initiative (1998). 7 Ibid 15
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1. Categorizing the data
Before the researcher start analyzing the data, the researcher categorized
the data based on the class that the students attended. There are three
classes with five students in each classes.
2. Reading the content
Throughout the analysis, the researcher have to read the students’ theses
proposal to be able to find the informal language used by them.
3. Coding the elements
Before analyzing the data, the researcher decided to code the elements
used with different color. To make it easier to be categorized the elements
found is highlighted as below:
a. First person pronouns are highlighted in light grey
b. Unattended anaphoric pronouns are highlighted in yellow
c. Split infinitives are highlighted in light brown
d. Initial conjunction or conjunctive adverbs are highlighted in dark
green
e. Sentence fragments are highlighted in blue
f. Listing expressions are highlighted in light green
g. Second person pronouns are highlighted in red
h. Constructions are highlighted in pink
i. Direct questions are highlighted in purple
j. Adverbs in initial and final position are highlighted in dark grey
4. Counting the number of each elements of informality
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After categorizing and coding the data, the researcher count the number of
element of informality in each students’ thesis proposal.
5. Summarizing the coding
All of the elements found are presented in the form of table. The table is
differed to each student.
6. Drawing the conclusion
The conclusion is taken after the analysis of the sample is done and
presented in form of tables.
The next data in gained from interviewing the teachers. As the data from the
interview gathered, the steps of gaining the data are presented below:
1. Translating the guideline
It is assumed that translating the guideline into Indonesian could help the
interview getting easier to get the data and depth information from the
subjects.
2. Presenting the data in the form of narration
To make the explanation clearer, the researcher explained the result in
form of narration.
3. Interpreting the result
After getting the data from interview, the researcher analyzes it based on
the need to answer the research question.
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents research finding and discussion. The research
finding contains the result gained the source of the data that is thesis proposal of
academic writing class. These findings are the result to answer the three research
questions. Those research questions are; what the elements of informality used in
academic writing by the students, what the element of informality which is the
most frequently used in academic writing by the students and the last is how the
teachers’ response on informal language used in academic writing by the students.
These findings will be discussed in the discussion section. Discussion then will
relate the finding with the theories used by the researcher.
A. Findings
After the research is conducted, it is gained some data from analyzing
the students’ theses proposal and interviewing the teachers from A, B and C class.
The result is explained in this section where the researcher separate the finding
into three based on the research questions. The data of first and second research
questions are gained from analyzing the students’ theses proposal. Meanwhile, the
data of the third research question is gained from interviewing the teachers. The
data is also obtained with the help of the instrument which is prepared before. The
instruments are element of informality matrix and interview guideline. Those
instruments help the researcher to obtain these findings.
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1. The element of informality used in students’ academic writing
Based upon the analysis of informal language, it is discovered that
some elements of informality are used in students’ thesis proposal. There are
nine elements of informality found consisting of first person pronoun,
unattended anaphoric pronoun, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb,
sentence fragment, listing expression, second person pronoun, direct question
and adverb in initial or final position. All the nine elements did not occur in
all classes. Each class found different element of informality in students’
theses proposal. Hence, this finding is classified based on the classes. There
are three different classes which are A, B and C class. The detail explanation
about the finding is explained below.
a. The elements of informality in A class
In A class, eight elements of informality are found in students’
theses proposal. The elements consist of first person pronoun, unattended
anaphoric pronoun, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb, sentence
fragment, listing expression, second person pronoun, direct question and
adverb in initial or final position. However, all the eight elements did not
occur in all students’ thesis proposal of A class. Each class has different
elements which are used.
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Table 4.1
Elements of informality in students’ theses proposal of A class
The table above shows that the eight elements spreads to different
students’ theses proposal. Some elements occurred in all students’ theses
proposal meanwhile some of them do not occurred. As can be seen in the
table that unattended anaphoric pronoun and initial conjunction or
conjunctive adverb occurred in all students’ theses proposal. Meanwhile,
listing expression and adverb in initial or final position occurred in four
students’ theses proposal. Listing expression occurred in all student’
theses proposal except for student 2 and adverb in initial or final position
occurred in all students’ theses proposal except for student 3. First person
No Element of informality
The number of informal language
Students
1 2 3 4 5
1 Unattended anaphoric
pronouns √ √ √ √ √
2 Initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs √ √ √ √ √
3 Listing expressions √ - √ √ √
4 Adverb in initial or final
position √ √ - √ √
5 First person pronouns - √ - - √
6 Sentence fragment - √ √ - -
7 Second person pronouns √ - - - -
8 Direct questions - √ - - -
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pronoun and sentence fragment occurred in two students’ theses
proposal. First person pronoun is used by student 2 and 5. Sentence
fragment is used by student 2 and 3. The last two elements occurred in
one student’s thesis proposal. They are second person pronoun which is
used by student 1 and direct question which is used by student 2. In
conclusion, eight elements are found in students’ theses proposal of A
class.
b. The elements of informality in B class
In B class, the number of elements of informality are the same as A
class. There are eight elements of informality found in students’ theses
proposal of B class. The elements consist of first person pronoun,
unattended anaphoric pronoun, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb,
sentence fragment, listing expression, second person pronoun, direct
question and adverb in initial or final position. However, all the eight
elements did not occur in all students’ thesis proposal of B class. This
can be explained in the table below.
Table 4.2
Elements of informality in students’ theses proposal of B class
No Elements of informality
Students
1 2 3 4 5
1 First person pronouns
√ √ √ √ √
2 Unattended anaphoric
pronouns √ √ √ √ √
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3 Initial conjunctions or
conjunctive adverbs √ √ √ √ √
4 Listing expressions √ √ - √ √
5 Sentence fragment √ - √ - √
6 Second person
pronouns - √ - √ √
7 Direct questions
- √ - - -
8 Adverb in initial or final
position - - - √ -
The table above shows that the eight elements of informality in B
class spreads to different students’ theses proposal. There are some
elements which occurred in all five theses proposal but there are also some
elements occurred in a few theses proposal. As can be seen in the table
that first person pronoun, unattended anaphoric pronoun and initial
conjunction or conjunctive adverb occurred in all elements meanwhile the
three other elements occurred in several students’ theses proposal. For the
examples are listing expression is used by all students except for student 3,
sentence fragment is used by student 1, 3 and 5, second person pronoun is
used by students 2, 4 and 5. Furthermore, the two elements are used by
one student. Direct question in used by student 2 and adverb in initial or
final position is used by student 4. The explanation above leads the
researcher to drew the conclusion that in B class is found eight elements of
informality.
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c. The elements of informality in C class
In C class, the number of elements of informality is fewer
occurred than other classes. There are seven elements of informality
found in this class. The elements consist of first person pronoun,
unattended anaphoric pronoun, initial conjunction or conjunctive
adverb, sentence fragment, listing expression, direct question and
adverb in initial or final position. However, same case as the other
classes that all the seven elements did not occur in all students’ thesis
proposal of B class. This can be explained in the table below.
Table 4.3
Elements of informality in students’ theses proposal of C class
No Element of informality
Students
1 2 3 4 5
1 Initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs √ √ √ √ √
2 Unattended anaphoric
pronouns √ - √ √ √
3 Listing expressions - √ √ √ -
4 First person pronouns √ √ - √ -
5 Contraction - √ √ - √
6 Sentence fragment - - - - √
7 Direct questions - - - √ -
The table above shows. There are seven elements found in this
class. As like the other classes, the seven elements did not occurred in
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all students’ theses proposal. Some elements occurred in all students’
theses proposal, meanwhile some of them did not occurred. Initial
conjunction or conjunctive adverb occurred in all students’ theses
proposal. As can be seen in the table that unattended anaphoric
pronoun is used by all students except for student 2. The other
elements like listing expression, first person pronoun and contraction
are used by three students. Meanwhile, the two other elements are
used once by the students. sentence fragment is used by student 5
meanwhile direct question is used by student 4. In conclusion, the
total number of elements of informality in C class is seven.
2. The element of informality which is frequently occurred
After discovering the elements which are used by the students, the
researcher found that each elements have different total number. It means that
there are several element which is often used by the students. This becomes
consideration for the researcher to categorize elements from the smallest to
the biggest number. This following table which show the number of each
elements.
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Table 4.4
The total number of element of informality in students’ thesis
As it is mentioned previously that there are nine elements of
informality in three classes which is consisting of fifteen students’ theses
proposal. Each class has different number of elements of informality. This
means that each student used element of informality in different frequency.
In A class which is consisting of five theses proposal used eight elements of
informality in total. However from the eight elements, there are three
elements which are frequently used. They are initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs, unattended anaphoric pronouns and adverb in initial or
final position. In B class, as it is mentioned previously that there are also
eight elements used in this class. However, the three elements which are
frequently used are initial conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs, first person
No Element of informality Class
Total A B C
1 Initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs 32 47 20 99
2 First person pronouns 12 76 11 99
3 Unattended anaphoric
pronouns 34 23 12 69
4 Listing expressions 11 15 9 35
5 Contraction 0 0 24 24
6 Adverb in initial or final
position 19 4 0 23
7 Second person pronouns 1 14 0 15
8 Sentence fragment 1 5 1 7
9 Direct questions 2 1 4 7
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pronouns and unattended anaphoric pronouns. In C class, as mentioned
previously that there are seven elements used in this class. However, there
are three elements which are frequently used by the students. The three
elements are contraction, initial conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs and
unattended anaphoric pronouns.
In the three classes, it can be concluded that there are nine elements
of informality in total used by the fifteen students. From the nine elements,
there are three elements which are frequently used by the fifteen students.
The elements are initial conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs, first person
pronouns and unattended anaphoric pronouns. The three elements has
different number of frequency. Initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb and
first person pronoun are used 99 times meanwhile unattended anaphoric
pronoun is used 69 times. A form of initial conjunction or conjunctive
adverb in students’ theses proposal which are frequently occurred are but,
and, so, because and then. Those conjunction or conjunctive adverb is used
by the students to begin the sentence. The example is “But, the difficulties to
develop a paragraph or essay are still founded in undergraduate
students..”. Meanwhile the form of first person pronoun which are
frequently occurred are I, we and our. The example is “Writing is as a tool
to express our unspoken idea need to be completed”. The form of
unattended anaphoric pronoun which are frequently occurred are it and this.
The example of the form is “This consists of the various procedures and
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techniques that are going..”. Those forms of elements are used many times
by the students. (see appendix 3)
The next three elements which are usually used by the students are
listing expression, contraction and adverb in initial or final position. It is
found that there are 35 number of listing expression found in students’
theses proposal. Meanwhile, the researcher found 24 number of elements
and 23 number of adverb in initial or final position in student’ theses
proposal. The forms of listing expression which are frequently occurred are
etc, many more, and and others. For the example from students’ sentence is
“The second is unwritten material, such as video, picture, and others”. The
forms of contraction which are frequently occurred are don’t, couldn’t, can’t
and it’s. The example of the sentence is “mobile become the most important
thing when the lecturer can’t attending…”. The forms of adverb in initial or
final position which are frequently occurred are actually, usually and
unfortunately. The example of the adverb in initial position is “Actually it
contains of questions that is given to students to get the students’ answer”.
Those forms of elements are quite often used by the fifteen students.
There are also some elements which are seldom used by the fifteen
students. They are direct question, sentence fragment and second person
pronoun (see table 4.4). Direct question and sentence fragment are only used
seven times in fifteen students’ theses proposal. Meanwhile second person
pronoun is only used fifteen times in fifteen students’ theses proposal. The
example of direct question’s form is “why does teacher need to use it in
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teaching activity?”. The research question in students’ theses proposal is not
counted to this element. Furthermore, the example of sentence fragment is
“A sequence instruction to do something”. The example of second person
pronoun’s form in students’ theses proposal is “you received 1 point for
each of the questions you answered correctly”. This kind of element is
frequently used by the students to suggest the reader.
3. Teachers’ responses on informal language
Another data in this research is obtained from the teachers who taught in
three classes which are A, B and C class. The researcher interviewed the
teachers about the responses on informal language. After interviewing the
teacher, the data is finally gained.
The result of the interview shows that the teachers categorized informal
language as an error where it should be corrected. They also agreed that
giving feedback to the students’ error can improve the students’ writing.
However, the teachers also tend to be selective in choosing which elements
that will be corrected. From the nine elements of informality found, the
teachers give feedback on all elements except for adverb in initial or final
position. However, each teacher has different perspective on which elements
should be corrected.
As it is mentioned that eight elements of informality are corrected in
academic writing class. However, the use of those eight elements are not
corrected by all the three teachers. All the teachers agree on correcting
against four elements. They are initial conjunction, sentence fragment,
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listing contraction and contraction. Meanwhile not all the teachers argue that
the use of first person pronoun, second person pronoun, direct question and
unattended anaphoric pronoun are needed to be corrected. The teacher 2 and
3 need to correct the use of first person pronoun while the teacher 1 allow
this element is used in students’ thesis proposal. According to Teacher 1 and
2, second person pronoun is also needed to be corrected while teacher 3 said
that students are allowed to use them in their thesis proposal. When the
students used direct question in their thesis proposal, teacher 1 and 3 will
correct them but teacher 2 ignored them. The use of unattended pronoun is
allowed by teacher 1 and 2, but it is not allowed by teacher 3. This
explanation can be seen in table below.
Table 4.5
The teachers’ response toward element of informality
No Element of informality
Teacher
1 2 3
1 Initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs Direct Indirect Indirect
2 Sentence fragment Direct Indirect Indirect
3 Listing expressions Indirect Indirect Direct
4 Contraction Indirect Indirect Direct
5 First person pronouns - Indirect Direct
6 Second person pronouns Indirect Indirect -
7 Direct questions Direct - Indirect
8 Unattended anaphoric
pronouns - - Direct
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As it is mentioned in previous paragraph that teachers in academic
writing class is corrected to eight elements of informality. However, in eight
elements of informality, teachers have different perspective on how to
correct to each elements. It can be seen in the table above that teacher 1
usually commented directly to the use of initial conjunction or conjunctive
adverb, sentence fragment and direct question. Teacher 1 usually
commented to those elements by giving red mark and giving note about the
error. Meanwhile, the use of listing expression, contraction and second
person pronoun are corrected by the teacher 1 indirectly. The teacher is
usually gives red mark on these elements to point out the error, but the
teachers do not give explanation why it is categorized as error.
The teacher 2 who taught in B class is always respond to the
elements indirectly. According to him, this kind of respond will help the
students to improve their writing by looking for the error by themselves.
The indirect response which is given by the teacher here is giving the note
in the end of the text.
The teacher 3 who taught in C class usually respond to four elements
of informality directly. The four elements are listing expression, contraction
and first person pronoun. The teacher here usually gives a mark in the
location where the error occurred. The teacher then give the explanation and
write the example of the right form of the error. Beside giving response
directly, the teachers also respond to three elements of informality
indirectly. The elements are initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb,
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sentence fragment and direct question. The direct response which is given to
the students is usually by underlining the word to point out the error.
All the teacher who taught in A, B and C class argued that the
correction which is given to the students’ writing is be able to improve the
students’ writing. This argument is led the teachers to give the best way to
correct the students’ writing.
B. Discussion
Fifteen thesis proposal are used to be the sample of this research. Each
thesis proposal has different characteristics. Those thesis proposal is analyzed one
by one based on the research questions. First, the thesis proposal is analyzed the
elements of informality occurred. Second, the thesis proposal is analyzed the most
frequent element occurred. Third, the responses from the teacher toward informal
language is analyzed as well. The result of the research question can be seen in
research finding. After the data are presented, then those are discussed in this
discussion section.
1. The element of informality used in students’ academic writing
Based upon the finding, the researcher found nine elements in the
students’ thesis proposal. All the elements above are unattended anaphoric
pronouns, first person pronoun, contraction, initial conjunctions and
conjunctive adverbs, sentence fragment, listing expression and direct
question, adverb in initial or final position and second person pronouns.
Those elements are used in each classes of A,B and C.
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The following tables present the form of informal language found in
students’ theses proposal. The tables do not present all the forms found, since
many forms are found in students’ theses proposal. Only some forms will be
presented based upon the the element of informality which has been analyzed.
Table 4.6
The forms of first person pronoun in students’ thesis proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 Then In the answering of the
participant. I will record the
responses.
In the answering of the
participant, then the
researcher will record the
responses.
2 We have know that if mastering
vocabulary make understanding …
It is known that mastering
vocabulary make
understanding english…
3 My research is same with the
previous study because the reading
strategies…
This research is same with
the previous study because
the reading strategies…
4 Vocabulary is one of English basic
skill that influence our English
language ability.
Vocabulary is one of
English basic skill that
influence English language
ability.
5 Temple, et al. (1998) states
“description is discourse that help us
visualize…
Temple, et al. (1998) states
“description is discourse that
help to visualize…
6 Tell me about your experience in
using “Grammarly”!
Tell about experience in
using “Grammarly”!
The finding of this research shows that there are 99 number of first
person pronoun found in students’ thesis proposal. The table above then
presents the forms used by the students. The forms are I, we, my, our, us and
me. Those pronouns refer to the author of the thesis proposal, meanwhile the
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language of academic writing should be impersonal.1 These pronouns
automatically could not be used in those thesis proposal.
To avoid using first person pronoun, it suggests to use passive voice
or simply omitted.2 The first form in the table, the pronoun I could be omitted
and replaced by the word “researcher”. The second form, the pronoun we
could be replaced by passive voice form. The other pronoun like my, our, us
and me could be omitted.
Table 4.7
The form of unattended anaphoric pronoun in students’ thesis proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 …speaking material in learning
English. It is because teachers have
to include some components that
become…
…speaking material in
learning English. This
consideration is done because
teachers have to include some
components that become…
2 …score result from the teacher, and
field notes. Those are used as the
basic data in analyzing the idea and
as the measure…
…score result from the
teacher, and field notes.
Those documents are used as
the basic data in analyzing the
idea and as the measure…
3 …that the capacity of intelligence
reached 80% at the age of 8 years.
This shows the importance of
providing…
…that the capacity of
intelligence reached 80% at
the age of 8 years. This fact
shows the importance of
providing…
The finding of this research shows that the students in academic
writing class used unattended anaphoric pronoun in their theses proposal.
1 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing….45
2 Ibid 45
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There are 69 number of unattended anaphoric pronoun found. The table
above then shows the forms of the element. Three different forms are
found, they are it, this and those. Those pronouns are not allowed in
academic writing.
The three examples of unattended anaphoric pronoun above should
be avoided in academic writing. The pronoun it, this and those in the
example, is unattended where it refer to the previous sentence. To avoid
the use of unattended anaphoric pronoun, the students should put
appropriate noun after the pronoun. According to Swales and Feak,
following this with an appropriate noun reduces possible comprehension
difficulties by readers.3 However in the first example, the researcher added
the word consideration after the pronoun it. The second example, the word
documents added after the pronoun those. The third example, the word fact
added after the pronoun this. Those additional words added to help the
reader understand easily about the content.
Table 4.8
The form of initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb in students’ theses
proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1
Because they do not pay
attention to the grammar in this
section, this way will enrich
students’ own idea in writing
easily.
This way will enrich students’ own
idea in writing easily, because they
do not pay attention…
2 So, students can learn to speak
and apply English in daily life.
Students hence can learn to speak
and apply English in daily life.
3 John M. Swales, “ Attended and Unattended “this” in academic writing…1
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3 …on that issue or neutral
position. And both of them
have…
on that issue or neutral position.
Both of them have ..
4 But, the difficulties to develop a
paragraph or essay are still
founded...
The difficulties to develop a
paragraph or essay however are
still founded...
5 However, writing assessment is
one of the most important
aspects to make ….
writing assessment is however one
of the most important aspects to
make ...
6 Then to solve the problem, pre
test ,post test and questionnaire
was taken to collect the data.
To solve the problem, pre test ,post
test and questionnaire was then
taken to collect the data.
Based on the finding, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb is
also found in students’ theses proposal. There 99 number of element in
three classes. The table above represents the forms of initial conjunction or
conjunctive adverb in students’ theses proposal. This research however
found 12 forms of this element. They are because, so, and, but, however,
then, therefore, moreover, since, beside, thus and before. Those
conjunctions and conjunctive adverb should be placed in the middle of
sentence or between two clauses. The first example above, the conjunction
because should be moved to the middle of the sentence without changing
the meaning of the content. Meanwhile, the third and forth example should
omit the initial conjunction, because the sentence has been independent.
In Hyland’s research, there are 10 forms of conjunction and
conjunctive adverb used in most of journals, they are and, but, so, or,
however, also, thus, yet, indeed and again.4 This means that there are
several elements which are not found in this research such as also, yet,
4 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing…47
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indeed, and again. There are also several elements which are not
commonly used in the most journal consisting of then, therefore,
moreover, since, beside, and before. The example of forms can be seen in
appendix.
Table 4.9
The form of sentence fragment in students’ theses proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 …vocabulary material with
interest. For example by using
smart guess.
…vocabulary material with
interest. The example of
media is smart guess.
2 …make understanding english
skill become easy. Especially for
listening skill
…make understanding
english skill become easy,
especially for listening skill
The table above shows that the students used sentence fragment in
their thesis proposal. There are 7 number of sentence fragment found. In
academic writing, a sentence should be completed and consisted of
subject, predicate and an object. According to Hyland, academic writing
should be clear, complete and not ambiguous.5 Hence, sentence fragment
is included into informal language. The students meanwhile used phrase in
a paragraph of thesis proposal. The first example above, the student do not
put the predicate and let it stand alone. The second example, meanwhile
the students put a dependent clause stand alone, the clause should join the
previous sentence to make it complete.
5 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic writing…2
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Table 4.10
The form of listing expression in students’ theses proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 … the lens of activity theory,
Metadiscourse, close reading,
and etc.
… the lens of activity theory,
metadiscourse and close
reading.
2 … which include the character,
the shape, the color, and others.
… the character, the shape, the
color, and visual.
3 … printed materials, such as
books, magazines, newspaper,
novel, text, and so on.
…printed materials, such as
books, magazines, newspaper,
novel and text.
4 … raising research questions
based on the rationale; indicating
the gap; and many others.
…raising research questions
based on the rationale and
indicating the gap.
Based on the finding, listing expression is used by the students in
their theses proposal. There are 35 number of listing expression. The table
above then shows the forms of listing expression which is used. The forms
which are used by the students are etc, and others, so on, many others, and
many more. These words indicates that there are other words which are not
mentioned by the author and the writer demands the readers to guess the
further information by themselves. According to John Swales, listing
expressions is imprecise and require readers to fill in the missing
information.6 This expression is not allowed in academic writing because
it gives no clear information. To avoid the use of listing expression, the
students should mention all the information to the readers.
6 Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing…23
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Table 4.11
The form of second person pronoun in students’ theses proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 Except for the last question of
each set, you received 1 point
for each of the questions you
answered correctly
Except for the last question of
each set, it can be received 1
point for each of the questions
which is answered correctly
2 If you cannot hear differences,
then you cannot make sense of
the meaning that is expressed
by such differences
If the differences cannot be
heard then the meaning that is
expressed by such differences
does not makes sense.
Second person pronoun is also found in students’ theses proposal.
There are 15 number of second person pronoun found. The table above
shows the form of the element. The form you in the example above is not
allowed to be in academic writing because it pointed to the reader directly.
Hyland also stated that second person pronoun can attempt to get the
reader on board and carry them along with an argument.7 This second
person pronoun should be avoided in academic writing. To avoid the use
of second person pronoun, the students could use passive voice. It is
supported by the argument from John Swales, he also stated that passive
voice is needed change second person pronoun.8 The first example in the
table could be changed to passive voice to omit the pronoun you.
However, not all second person pronoun could be changed by passive
voice.
7 Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic ……48
8 Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing for graduate…23
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Table 4.12
The form of contraction in students’ theses proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 It won’t help concentration
and it will lead to bad reading
approaches
It will not help concentration
and it will lead to bad reading
approaches
2 They haven’t many
vocabulary that support their
capability in English skill.
They have not many vocabulary
that support their capability in
English skill.
3 The problem is the can’t
arrange the whole…
The problem is they cannot
arrange the whole…
4 I’ll make the students or the
teacher..
It will make the students or the
teacher..
5 ..broken or couldn’t work
smoothly like..
..broken or could not work
smoothly like..
Another element which is found in students’ theses proposal is
contraction. Based on the finding, there are 24 number of contraction. The
table above presents the various forms of contraction made by the students
in their thesis proposal. The forms are consisting of won’t, haven’t, can’t,
I’ll, couldn’t, didn’t, it’s, doesn’t, we’re, that’s and don’t. This forms are
not allowed in academic writing because it makes writing sound informal.
In academic writing, a word should be written in original form. The first
example in the table above shows that the students write won’t instead of
will not. In the second example, the students write haven’t instead of have
not. In the third example, the students write can’t instead of cannot. In the
forth example, the students write I’ll instead of I will. The fifth example,
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the students write couldn’t instead of could not. the students should avoid
using this element in their theses proposal.
The next element which is found in students’ theses proposal is
direct question. Form of direct question is found in the middle of the
paragraph. Research question however are not counted as informal
language because it helps to get the readers’ attention to a point.9
Meanwhile, the researcher found some forms in the middle of the
paragraph. The example of the form is “why does teacher need to use it in
teaching activity?”. This direct question is not commonly happened in
academic writing, meanwhile direct question is more common.10
The form
of direct question could be changed into indirect question “what teacher
needs to use it in teaching activity. The other example can be seen in
appendix.
Table 4.13
The form of adverb in initial or final position in students’ theses proposal
No Informal form Formal form
1 Naturally, in the process of
understanding the text becomes an
important process of teaching
learning reading skill in the class.
In the process of understanding
the text naturally becomes an
important process of teaching
learning reading skill in the
class.
2 Mostly of the previous studies
only looking for the proof whether
the using of freewriting give an
improvement to their writing
ability or not.
Most of the previous studies
only looking for the proof
whether the using of freewriting
give an improvement to their
writing ability or not.
9 Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing for graduate…23
10 Ibid 24
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3 Usually, it contains object’s name,
kind of the object, etc.
It usually contains object’s
name, kind of the object, etc.
4 Certainly, this observation is
purposed for English Education
Department.
This observation is certainly
purposed for English Education
Department.
The other element which is found in students’ theses proposal is
adverb in initial or final position. There are 23 number of this element. The
table above represents the forms of adverb in initial or final position in
students’ theses proposal. The students put adverb naturally, mostly, usually
and certainly in the beginning of the sentence. Although, adverb is originally
placed in the middle of sentence.11
In this research has found out that there are nine elements found in
students’ theses proposal. They are unattended anaphoric pronouns, first
person pronoun, contraction, sentence initial conjunctions, sentence fragment,
listing expression and direct question, adverb in initial or final position and
second person pronouns. Meanwhile the researcher found out that there is
difference between this finding and the theory from John M Swales and
Christine B Feak. In this theory, there are ten elements existed in academic
writing. Meanwhile, in this finding, split infinitive is not used at all by the
students.
11
Jhon M.Swales, Cristine B Feak, Academic Writing for graduate…23
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2. The element of informality which is frequently used
The finding found that initial conjunction and conjunctive adverb, first
person pronoun and unattended anaphoric pronoun are the most element
frequently used by the students in academic class. The number of initial
conjunction or conjunctive adverb and first person pronoun is 99, while the
number of unattended anaphoric pronoun is 69. This finding is same as the
finding from Hyland in his research. Hyland in his research stated that the
most frequently elements used in several journal is unattended anaphoric
pronouns, first person pronoun, and initial conjunctions and conjunctive
adverb.12
3. Teachers’ responses on informal language
The result of the third research questions are founded. The teachers of
academic writing class have different opinion on how to respond the element
of informality. First of all, all teachers agreed that informal language used in
academic writing is an erroneous. They believed that informal language
should be corrected. However, the finding also shows that all the teachers
respond to element of informality selectively. It means that the teachers do
not respond to all the elements. It is relevant to the suggestion from Feris, he
suggests that second language writing teachers against correcting too much,
especially when the structures or language being corrected is not erroneous.13
In other word, he suggest to correct rather than style; however, in that
suggestion, Feris also stated that erroneous should be corrected, meanwhile
12
Ken Hyland, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, “Is academic becoming……48 13
Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers’ perception of error: the effect of first language and
experience”. University of London. Vol 509-519, 2006.
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all the teachers agree that not all element of informality is corrected. It can be
concluded that not all the teachers agree that not all element of informality is
erroneous. As what stated by Feris again, what teachers need to bear in mind
is the teachers should be cautious of stylistic differences and erroneous
linguistic contractions. If student writing is correct but may not be written the
way the teacher would write, correction may not be necessary, as there may
be differences in composing styles.14
The teachers’ responses to element informality is variety. Teacher 1
corrected to the eight element, teacher 2 and 3 corrected to seven elements.
According to Faris, the correction should only given to erroneous rather than
stylistics.15
The three teachers stated that they do not correct all the elements
of informality. They only correct what they think that it is error. Although all
the teachers said that informal language is an erroneous, but they do not think
that all the elements are erroneous.
The first teacher has the same perspective as the second teacher in not
giving correction toward unattended anaphoric pronoun. The second teacher
has the same perspective as the third teacher in not giving the correction
toward split infinitive. Meanwhile, all the three teachers have the same
opinion in not giving correction toward adverb in initial or final position
element. This means all the teachers agree on giving correction toward initial
conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs, sentence fragment and contraction.
The finding can be seen in table 4.5.
14
Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers’ perception of error…45 15
Ibid 64
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Those teachers’ perspectives on how to correct element of informality
is quite different from Feris’ finding in his research. Feris stated that three
non native teachers from different country more concern to first person
pronoun and initial conjunction and conjunctive adverb.16
However, first
person pronoun is corrected by the second teacher and the third teacher.
Meanwhile the first teacher stated that first person pronoun is stylistics which
is not should be corrected. The differences is that the first teacher is the one
who have different perspective on element of informality, and the non native
teachers in previous study have no concern on sentence fragment and
contraction.
Furthermore, the three teachers have different ways to respond to each
elements. This can be seen in table 4.5 that teacher 1 responds directly to
students’ theses proposal only given to four elements. They are split
infinitive, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverbs, sentence fragment and
contraction. The teacher 2 does not respond directly to element of informality.
The teacher responds indirectly to all element of informality. Meanwhile, the
teacher 3 responds directly to four elements. They are first person pronoun,
unattended anaphoric pronoun, listing expression and contraction.
In this case, the teachers’ response are mostly same as the suggestion
from Faris in his book on how to respond to language style used in academic
wriitng. Feris suggests that responding directly should be given to the
elements which are fewer occured in students’ writing. It supports by Lee that
16
Key Hyland, Eri Anan, “teachers’ perception of error…46
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stated direct feedback may be appropriate in a situation when errors are
untreatable that are not susceptible to self-correction such as sentence
structure and word choice. The teacher points out directly the error and give
the comment; meanwhile, in A class where taught by teacher 1, direct
feedback is given to three elements. They are split infinitive, sentence
fragment and direct question. Those three elements seldom used by the
students in their thesis proposal. Although, there are some elements which are
seldom used but it is given indirect feedback. In B class taught by teacher 2,
the teacher respond indirectly to most of the elements. There are some
elements which are frequently used and given indirect feedback. The
elements are first person pronoun, initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb
and listing expression. In C class taught by teacher 3, direct feedback is given
to three elements which are not frequently used. They are first person
pronoun, unattended anaphoric pronoun and listing expression. Although,
there is one element which is frequently used by it is given direct feedback.
This means that the teachers’ response is mostly same as the suggestion from
Feris in his book.
All the teachers agree that response which is given to students’
writing by the teachers could reduce the use of informal language in the next
project writing. It means that response to students’ writing is needed to help
the students aware of appropriate language used in their thesis proposal.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
Based on the finding and discussion, the researcher concluded this study as
follow:
1. Students of English Teacher Education Department in the fifth semester used
nine kinds of element of informality in their thesis proposal. The nine
elements are unattended anaphoric pronouns, first person pronoun,
construction, sentence initial conjunctions, sentence fragment, listing
expression, direct question, adverb in initial or final position and second
person pronouns. The element which is not used is split infinitive.
2. There are nine elements of informality in students’ thesis proposal. The total
number of element of informality in students’ thesis proposal is 378 number.
From 378 number of element, it is found that 26 % is dominated by Initial
conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs, 26% is first person pronoun and
18,5% is unattended anaphoric pronoun. The other element such as listing
expression dominated 9%, construction dominated 6.5%, Adverb in initial or
final position dominated 6%, second person pronoun dominated 4%, sentence
fragment dominated 2% and direct question dominated 2%. It can be
concluded that initial conjunction or conjunctive adverb, first person pronoun
and unattended anaphoric pronoun are the most frequently element occurred
in students’ thesis proposal.
3. The teachers of academic writing class have different opinion on how to
correct the element of informality. The result of the third research question
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shows that teachers respond to all elements of informality which are used by
the students except for adverb in initial or final position. However, the eight
elements used by the students are not corrected by all the teachers. The
finding also shows that all the teachers respond to elements of informality
selectively. Most of the response given to each elements of informality is
indirect. The teachers most like to tell the students that error is found but they
do not give the correct form to the students. The teachers wants the students
to look for the error by themselves.
B. Suggestion
Based on the conclusion above, some suggestions are intended to the students of
ETED, the teacher and the next researcher who has the same topic as here. The
suggestion are as follow:
1. For the students
The students are expected to learn more about the characteristics of
academic writing especially in language style. The students should more
aware of using language style in academic writing. In addition, the
students should also follow the response from the teacher, so that the
informal language which they used can be reduced.
2. For the teachers
The teachers of academic writing class are suggested to respond to
students’ writing based on the occurrence of using informal language in
their thesis proposal. The teachers are also suggested to explain the
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appropriate language used in academic writing in the beginning of the
course.
3. For the next researcher
For the next researcher who is interested in the same topic, it is
suggested to analyze the informal language in selecting a word for
academic writing. A word like found out in academic writing is better to
be placed by discover. Selecting a word like the example in academic
writing is also important. The next researcher can use another theory from
different experts.
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